On the day of new workers’ demonstrations, CEREAL and the GoodElectronics Network urge Foxconn to respect workers’ right to freedom of association and collective bargaining, a living wage and decent working conditions in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico. The plant supplies to Technicolor, Brocade and Cisco.
On the day of new workers’ demonstrations, CEREAL and the GoodElectronics Network urge Foxconn to respect workers’ right to freedom of association and collective bargaining, a living wage and decent working conditions in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico.
Mexican NGO CEREAL and the GoodElectronics Network are highly concerned about recent violations of workers’ rights at the Foxconn-Scientific Atlanta factory in the border city of Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. The company produces set-top boxes (STB), an information appliance device used in cable and satellite televisions. Hundreds of workers are facing unjust dismissals, threats and lawsuits for demanding better working conditions and for trying to form a union. Furthermore, CEREAL and GoodElectronics are concerned that the workers could face further reprisals for participating in a demonstration today, protesting the company’s actions.
Workers’ actions
On August 12, more than one hundred workers employed by Foxconn-Scientific Atlanta started a movement to protest low wages, humiliating treatment, sexual harassment and the general worsening of their working conditions. Workers demanded the company to enter into negotiations with them for a first collective bargaining agreement, based on their petition to the Local Conciliation and Arbitration Board for recognition of their union.
On October 14, one of the leaders of the movement, engineer Carlos Octavio Serrano, started a hunger strike demanding the company to respond to the workers’ petitions. Serrano had been working for the company for 10 years. Foxconn’s response to Serrano’s protest was to file three legal lawsuits against him, and to fire him.
Today (November the 3rd), workers are again holding a demonstration outside the factory to demand their workers’ labour rights and the end of reprisals. Workers are in solidarity with Carlos Octavio Serrano and demand his reinstatement.
About Foxconn Scientific Atlanta
Scientific Atlanta, Inc. founded in 1951 in Atlanta, Georgia, was purchased by Cisco Systems in 2005. In October 2011, Foxconn Technology Group purchased Scientific-Atlanta's set-top-box manufacturing facilities in Mexico from Cisco for $44.949 million. Currently, Foxconn-Scientific Atlanta is a supplier for Technicolor, Brocade and Cisco.
Find the full statement attached!
